for 14th Annual (2017) "Humies" Awards
for Human-Competitive Results
Produced by Genetic and Evolutionary Computation
www.human-competitive.org
To be Held at
Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO)
July 15-19, 2017 (Saturday-Wednesday)
Berlin
http://gecco-2017.sigevo.org/
Entries are hereby solicited for awards totaling $10,000 for
human-competitive results that have been produced by any form of genetic
and evolutionary computation (including, but not limited to genetic
algorithms, genetic programming, evolution strategies, evolutionary
programming, learning classifier systems, grammatical evolution, gene
expression programming, differential evolution, etc.) and that have been
published in the open literature between the deadline for the previous
competition and the deadline for the current competition.
The competition will be held as part of the Genetic and Evolutionary
Computation (GECCO) conference operated by the Association for
Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group (SIG) on Genetic and
Evolutionary Computation (SIGEVO). Entries chosen to be finalists will
be made at the conference. The winners of the awards will be announced
during the conference.
IMPORTANT DATES:
• Wednesday June 7, 2017 — Deadline for entries (consisting of one TEXT
file and one or more PDF files). Send entries to koza at
human-competitive dot org
• Wednesday June 21, 2017 — Finalists will be notified by e-mail
• Wednesday July 5, 2017 — Finalists must submit their presentation
(e.g., PowerPoint, PDF) for posting on the competition's web site. Send
presentations to koza at human-competitive dot org
• July 15-19, 2017 (Saturday-Wednesday) — The GECCO conference
• Monday July 17, 2017 (VERY TENTATIVE) — Presentations before judging
committee at public session of the GECCO conference. Finalists should
make a point of checking for the time and date in the conference's final
schedule.
• Wednesday July 19, 2017 (TENTATIVE) — Announcement of awards at
plenary session of the GECCO conference
JUDGING COMMITTEE
• Erik Goodman
• Una-May O'Reilly
• Wolfgang Banzhaf
• Darrell Whitley
• Lee Spector
CALL FOR ENTRIES
Techniques of genetic and evolutionary computation are being
increasingly applied to difficult real-world problems — often yielding
results that are not merely academically interesting, but competitive
with the work done by creative and inventive humans. Starting at the
Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO) in 2004, cash
prizes have been awarded for human-competitive results that had been
produced by some form of genetic and evolutionary computation in the
previous year.
This prize competition is based on published results. The publication
may be a paper at the GECCO conference (i.e., regular paper, poster
paper, or any other full-length paper), a paper published anywhere in
the open literature (e.g., another conference, journal, technical
report, thesis, book chapter, book), or a paper in final form that has
been unconditionally accepted by a publication and is "in press" (that
is, the entry must be identical to something that will be published
imminently without any further changes). The publication may not be an
intermediate or draft version that is still subject to change or
revision by the authors or editors. The publication must meet the usual
standards of a scientific publication in that it must clearly describe a
problem, the methods used to address the problem, the results obtained,
and sufficient information about how the work was done in order to
enable the work described to be independently replicated.
An automatically created result is considered "human-competitive" if it
satisfies at least one of the eight criteria below.
(A) The result was patented as an invention in the past, is an
improvement over a patented invention, or would qualify today as a
patentable new invention.
(B) The result is equal to or better than a result that was accepted as
a new scientific result at the time when it was published in a
peer-reviewed scientific journal.
(C) The result is equal to or better than a result that was placed into
a database or archive of results maintained by an internationally
recognized panel of scientific experts.
(D) The result is publishable in its own right as a new scientific
result independent of the fact that the result was mechanically created.
(E) The result is equal to or better than the most recent human-created
solution to a long-standing problem for which there has been a
succession of increasingly better human-created solutions.
(F) The result is equal to or better than a result that was considered
an achievement in its field at the time it was first discovered.
(G) The result solves a problem of indisputable difficulty in its field.
(H) The result holds its own or wins a regulated competition involving
human contestants (in the form of either live human players or
human-written computer programs).
Contestants should note that a pervasive thread in most of the above
eight criteria is the notion that the result satisfy an "arms length"
standard — not a yardstick based on the opinion of the author, the
author's own institution (educational or corporate), or the author's own
close associates. "Arms length" may be established in numerous ways. For
example, if the result is a solution to "a long-standing problem for
which there has been a succession of increasingly better human-created
solutions," it is clear that the scientific community (not the author,
the author's own institution, or the author's close associates) have
vetted the significance of the problem. Similarly, a problem's
significance may be established if the result replicates or improves
upon a scientific result published in a peer-reviewed scientific
journal, replicates or improves upon a previously patented invention,
constitutes a patentable new invention, or replicates or improves a
result that was considered an achievement in its field at the time it
was first discovered. Similarly, a problem's significance may be
established if the result holds its own or wins a regulated competition
involving live human players or human-written computer programs. In each
of the foregoing examples, the standard for human-competitiveness is
being established external to the author, the author's own institution,
or the author's close associates. It is also conceivable to rely only on
criterion G ("The result solves a problem of indisputable difficulty in
its field"); however, if only criterion G is claimed, there must be a
clear and convincing argument that the problem's "difficulty" is indeed
"indisputable."
The competition will be held as part of the annual Genetic and
Evolutionary Computation (GECCO) conference. Entries chosen to be
finalists are to be made at the conference. The awards and prizes will
be announced at the conference.
Cash prizes of $5,000 (gold), $3,000 (silver), and bronze (either one
prize of $2,000 or two prizes of $1,000) will be awarded for the best
entries that satisfy one or more of the criteria for
human-competitiveness. The awards will be divided equally among
co-authors unless the authors specify a different division at the time
of submission. Prizes are paid by check in U.S. dollars after the GECCO
conference. The judges may, based on submissions, rearrange the prize
amounts and prize categories within the total amount available for prizes.
DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR ENTERING THE "HUMIES"
If you plan to make an entry into this competition, please check the web
site at www.human-competitive.org for updated information and for
possible changes immediately prior to submitting your entry.
If you make an entry, please re-check the web site prior to the
conference for possible changes in the instructions or the schedule.
All entries are to be sent electronically to koza at human-competitive
dot org. All entries will be promptly acknowledged, so please make an
inquiry if you do not receive a reasonably prompt acknowledgment shortly
after your submission.
An entry must consist of one TEXT file and one or more PDF files. If the
same authors are making multiple entries, please submit separate
e-mails, each containing the required TEXT file and PDF file(s)
supporting the entry.
The TEXT file must contain the following 10 items. Please be very
careful to include ALL required information. Contestants are alerted to
the fact that items 6 and 9 are especially important and will be the
main basis by which entries will be judged. The papers and presentations
from earlier competitions (starting in 2004) are posted at the
competition web site at www.human-competitive.org. These previous
entries may be informative and helpful in crafting your entry.
1. the complete title of one (or more) paper(s) published in the open
literature describing the work that the author claims describes a
human-competitive result;
2. the name, complete physical mailing address, e-mail address, and
phone number of EACH author of EACH paper(s);
3. the name of the corresponding author (i.e., the author to whom
notices will be sent concerning the competition);
4. the abstract of the paper(s);
5. a list containing one or more of the eight letters (A, B, C, D, E, F,
G, or H) that correspond to the criteria (see above) that the author
claims that the work satisfies;
6. a statement stating why the result satisfies the criteria that the
contestant claims (see examples of statements of human-competitiveness
as a guide to aid in constructing this part of the submission);
7. a full citation of the paper (that is, author names; publication
date; name of journal, conference, technical report, thesis, book, or
book chapter; name of editors, if applicable, of the journal or edited
book; publisher name; publisher city; page numbers, if applicable);
8. a statement either that "any prize money, if any, is to be divided
equally among the co-authors" OR a specific percentage breakdown as to
how the prize money, if any, is to be divided among the co-authors;
9. a statement stating why the authors expect that their entry would be
the "best," and
10. An indication of the general type of genetic or evolutionary
computation used, such as GA (genetic algorithms), GP (genetic
programming), ES (evolution strategies), EP (evolutionary programming),
LCS (learning classifier systems), GE (grammatical evolution), GEP (gene
expression programming), DE (differential evolution), etc.
The PDF file(s) are to contain the paper(s). The strongly preferred
method is that you send a separate PDF file for each of your paper(s)
relating to your entry. Both the text file and the PDF file(s) for each
entry will be permanently posted on a web page shortly after the
deadline date for entries (for use by the judges, conference attendees,
and anyone else who is interested) and will remain posted on the web as
a permanent record of the competition. If your paper is only available
on the publisher's web site and your publisher specifically requires
that your published paper may appear only on your own personal page, the
second choice is that you send link(s) to a separate web page on your
web site containing link(s) to the PDF file(s) of the paper(s) that
constitute your entry. This separate web page is to contain nothing
else, so the interested parties may quickly locate your paper(s). If you
use this second-choice option, you must ALSO supply a link to a
permanent web site maintained by your publisher where your specific
paper may be viewed or purchased (that is, not a link merely to the
publisher's general home page, but a link to the specific web page
containing your paper on the publisher's site). The objective, in each
case, is to provide a permanent record of the entries and to make it
easy for anyone to locate your material.
Generally, only one paper should be submitted. Note that this is a
competition involving a result that satisfies the criteria for being
human-competitive (not a competition involving an evaluation of the
author's entire body of work). More than one paper should be submitted
only if no single paper fully describes the specific result or method.
The judging committee will review all entries and identify a short list
for presentation at the GECCO conference. Finalists will be notified by
an e-mail to the corresponding author. Please acknowledge receipt of
this message, so the judges know that you received your notice.
Finalists must then make a short oral presentation to the judging
committee at a public session of the GECCO conference. The presentations
will be held on one of the early days of the conference, and the winners
will be announced a day or two later at the conference.
Finalists must submit their presentation (e.g., a PowerPoint, PDF) by
e-mail to koza at human-competitive dot org. All submissions will be
promptly acknowledged, so please make an inquiry if you do not receive a
reasonably prompt acknowledgment. These presentations will be posted on
the web page for the competition.
At the GECCO conference, there will be 10-minute oral presentations by
the finalists to the judging committee. The presentations will be open
to all conference attendees at a special session of the conference. The
oral presentation should primarily focus on
1. why the result qualifies as being human-competitive and
2. why the judges should consider the entry as "best" in comparison to
other entries that may also be "human-competitive" (because, as
previously mentioned, these are the two main standards by which entries
will be judged by the judges).
In the short oral presentation to the judges, a description of the work
itself is decidedly secondary. By the time of the presentation the
judges will be familiar with the papers. Thus, the focus of the
presentation is on reasons why the work being presented should win a prize
— not an explanation or presentation of the work itself.
In the unlikely event that a presenter is scheduled to make a
presentation elsewhere at the GECCO conference at the same time, please
notify the judging committee, so they can rearrange time slots.
After the oral presentations, the award committee will meet and consider
the presentations.
The presenting author for each entry must register for the GECCO conference.
A judge will recuse himself or herself if he or she is closely
associated with a finalist (e.g., a current academic advisor, current
collaborator, co-author with the finalist of related work).
Additional information is at www.human-competitive.org
--
Javier Ferrer
E.T.S. Ingeniería Informática
University of Málaga
Tel: +34 95213 2815
Fax: +34 95213 1397
ferrer [at] lcc.uma.es
http://neo.lcc.uma.es/staff/javi/
*********************************
Publicity Chair for GECCO 2017
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